rebuilding a craftsman compresser

[fusername]

ever done it? I'm about to. of course in my "if it aint broke, where's my wrench?" mentality, in fitting a muffler on my ocmpressor, i needed to pull it apart. the cylinder wall was pretty badly scored, but she worked fine, took a bit to make pressure. however when I put it back together, since the cylinder had moved a bit, the score marks hit a new surface and there goes the sealing "ring". wad of cash to craftsman later, and I should see my parts in the mail soon.

[winifredevw]

A muffler? Can you use a cylinder hone, or is it scored too deep for that?

[fusername]

its chrome plated something, and the plating seems to have worn off. I would just hone it otherwise. It is tempting to try honeing it in the mean time. I'll snap some pics when i get a chance.

as for the muffler, mcmaster sells some real cheap air filters with built in mufflers, just need to tap the old filter housin to make it work. 90 dB they promise, i doubt it, but anything is better. I've seen some folks add an expansion chamber between the filter and the intake and have that really knock down volume as well.

[Stray Catalyst]

You may be able to replace the pump and salvage the rest of the unit. I work for a company that uses Campbell Hausfeld compressors, and they die frequently - but the pumps are only about $150 for these, as opposed to about $500 for the whole compressor. I'm not sure how much Craftsman pumps are...

[winifredevw]

Hmn, 90 db's is still LOUD.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Fuser, how big (gallons) is your compressor? If I remember right, the 60 gallon tanks and up quite often have universal mounting provisions so that you can buy from anywhere you want and mount it up. Something to think of it is roughly that size.

Lee

[fusername]

it is a thirty gal tank, I found all the replacement parts, they are very easy to get actually. strangly they cost the same price everywhere, no cheap chinese aftermarket would you belive it. I think crapsman recently realized if they change design every 8 months they can keep people from repairing on the cheap? the parts sure are cheap looking.

as for hte muffler, i musta been drunk writing that post, noise reduction is "up to 15 dB!" so who knows how much of a differennce it will really make. I am going to try and shoot a quick tear down video tomorrow. and of course the intake is just the wrong size to NPT tap it. 1/2 inch id 5/8 od, no meat for a 3/8 NPT tap.

also on the bright side, i noticed the scoring was on the intake wall of the skirt, and the chrome wasn't actually chipped off. I am going to hit it with the finest sand paper i can find and see if its just junk embeded in the wall, and if I can't get a smooth surface back. worst case I am exactly where I started, but with a muffler. the fact that this is how it gets damaged is a good motivator to keep your compressor in a low dust environment.

[fusername]

this is the compact air filter i am going to use from mcmastercarr: 3 inch x 3 1/4 and a 3/8 npt fitting

they have a non-compact version, but the npt threads are huge so i would need to $$ for some adapters to shrink it down. an oiless compressor does not draw much air, so the flow rate is very low.

4inch tall 6 inch dia for 10 scfm and a 1/2 npt thread fitting


I suspect the non-compact one would be quieter due to the larger inlet area, so i maaaayyyyy still spring for it and just deal with supporting the extra weight.

[doc]

I had an old CH compressor (4hp/12gal) that served for many years. Didn't always serve well, but served. At one point, it would not make enough pressure to turn off the regulator, so would just keep running. I took it apart and the ring! was worn to literally paper thin. Unbelievable it still made more than 100psi pressure.

Long story short, i ordered the piston/ring/gasket kit for about $50 and it's alive and well sitting in the corner. Definitely worth the rebuild for a few bucks. I can drag this one up to the house or throw it in the truck. The new, big compressor - not so much.

doc

[Stray Catalyst]

I used to rebuild the CH pumps, but at this point I just buy new pumps three or four times a year. It's still cheaper than buying new compressors every time that one of these welds itself solid, or busts a rod and pokes holes in its own case. I suspect if we used them according to their (not particularly impressive) duty cycle, they'd last longer... The pump is only a little more expensive than the rebuild kits (it needs three of them) and those kits don't help when it's leaked all its oil and smoked its bearings, or broken the case, or developed a leak in the bottom end.

[fusername]

mines oiless, so agood bit cheaper to play with. I look forward to the muffler, fingers crossed

[fusername]

Got the muffler in and all i can say is WOW. And by that i mean, no difference... ah well, live and learn. Now to ry my hand at carpentry and make it a home